That's a very good point. I think that a lot of people have an inherent discomfort around the evil path of a game, since evil paths are by their nature negative, and they see the results of those paths as negative and undesireable. If you consider that the people commenting on Astarion and people's ascencion playthroughs care for his character as much as you guys do, then I think it does logically follow that they're sensitive to what they see as his being "harmed" in other people's playthroughs. That's a silly feeling for people to act on, but I think it does explain things. I've seen posters here have some pretty intense feelings about how bad it is for Astarion to be left as a spawn, so imagining the opposite being the case doesn't feel like a stretch to me.
What I kind of want to know is do they also judge people for playing a game like GTA, where there really is no way to play it morally? I'm not sure if I agree that it's logical that they'd be sensitive to people harming Astarion, since it doesn't affect the version of Astarion in their game at all.
I can't speak to others on this thread, but I don't personally think it's immoral to leave Astarion as a spawn, and I don't begrudge anyone doing it in their game. What I have a big problem with is people judging me and other players for choosing ascension, implying that there's something wrong with us, and that's why I don't hesitate to show ways the logic could swing both ways. It's not to say, "Actually you're the wrong one," but rather to show how silly it is to judge how anyone plays a game that doesn't affect them at all. I came to this forum because my social media algorithm was positively stuffed with content that decried not just AA, but the people who chose that path. And since that path ended up feeling so meaningful to me personally, yeah, you can bet I'm going to wax poetic about it in a forum where I've been given sanctuary to do so.
The thing is, I don't think it's fundamentally an issue of morality. I think it's an issue of them feeling that by going the ascencion route you're giving him his bad ending and thus harming him, and they're decrying you for that. But because they lack the self-awareness or possibly the vocabulary to put it in those terms, or because they want to make an argument that gives them moral high ground, a lot of them put their argument in terms of broader morality. They're still wrong to attack other players though.
